


Misconceptions

by writingshipper



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 10:59:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12839754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingshipper/pseuds/writingshipper
Summary: Bucky thinks Steve's boyfriend is dead.*Takes place after TWS.





	Misconceptions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [goodmorningbeloved](https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodmorningbeloved/gifts).



> Here's my first ever foray into the Stony fandom! Hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please comment and tell me what you loved!  
> Edited only by me so anything that sounds like shit is entirely my own fault. For [goodmorningbeloved](http://goodmorningbeloved.tumblr.com). I just stole her idea and turned it into my own. Hope you enjoy this even though we only just met!

There’s the tower, Buck,’ Steve said proudly.

Bucky looked up at the skyscraper. It wasn’t often that he was awed at something; then again he had been brainwashed for seventy years. But still, the Avengers Tower was a sight to behold even amidst New York’s skyline. He thought its sleekness and modernity had charm to it, almost like it was radiating the love and warmth of its occupants.

‘Well, come on.’ Steve dragged Bucky further up the road until the building blocked the sun from his view. He was suddenly a little nervous about this. Steve had claimed that his friends were good people and that they were capable of handling him, and he trusted his judgement, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have reservations. What if they found him too different? What if they were wary of him to the point that they were always on guard and tense around him? What if they - ?

‘Come on, Buck. Everyone’s waiting for you,’ Steve said from the other side of the doorway. As Bucky stepped through, he felt the odd feeling of being watched. He looked around, trying to find the source of the sensation, but all he could see were plain white walls and tiles. This must be the back entrance of the building, one to prevent them from getting in detected.

‘It’s all right, Buck,’ Steve said soothingly. He must’ve noticed Bucky’s rigid body language. ‘The security here is incredibly advanced. It’s to prevent intruders from gaining access. But it knows me, and it knows you’re not a threat because I’m with you.’

Steve’s words only made Bucky feel marginally better. It didn’t help the memories of being watched like a hawk for the tiniest slip-ups, being punished for them. Steve pushed a button and the grilles of a lift slid aside smoothly. He walked inside, but at the sight of Bucky hesitating, he immediately switched to concern mode.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked. ‘Do you want to take the stairs instead?’

‘I’m fine,’ Bucky said dismissively, and marched into the little box defiantly like it had challenged him. He couldn’t keep being afraid if he wanted to move on into the future. He was going to make the best of this. His ma and sister would want him to.

‘Good afternoon, Captain Rogers, Sergeant Barnes,’ a smooth British accent drawled as the grilles closed. Bucky looked around, but he was positive he and Steve were the only ones in the lift. ‘I’m glad to see that you’ve returned in full physical health.’

‘Thank you, Jarvis,’ Steve said casually, like speaking to an invisible being was a thing people did on a daily basis. ‘Buck, this is Jarvis, our resident Artificial Intelligence. Jarvis, this is my best friend James Barnes, though of course you know that already.’  
‘It’s a pleasure to meet you at last, Sergeant Barnes,’ Jarvis said. ‘Captain Rogers speaks only good things about you. You are a welcome addition to The Avengers. If there’s anything you might need, just call on me and I will do my best to assist you.’

‘Thank you,’ Bucky said drily. At this point he was sure that everything was going to surprise him.

‘What happened to that man with wings?’ he asked as he pinpointed every possible exit, trying to ignore the claustrophobia of being trapped in a cold box. It may have had more elbow room, but the temperature was almost the same as that tiny cryo chamber.

‘Oh, Sam has some things to take care of, but he’ll move in next week.,’Steve said. ‘I can’t wait for you to meet everyone, Buck,’ he gushed. ‘Bruce is shy and quiet, but he has this range of herbal teas he got from his travels that calm you down. Thor might seem overbearing at times, but he’s really just a teddy bear at heart. Clint isn’t above playing dirty in video games, but he’ll stick up for you to the hilt once you’ve earned his trust. Obviously you know Natasha, and Tony - .’

The grilles opened and a cacophony wafted towards them. Bucky couldn’t believe humans could produce such a high decibel of noise. He and Steve followed it to the source, which turned out to be the kitchen. Two men, one with curly hair and glowing green eyes, the other with dirty blond hair, were in the middle of an argument. Another man with long flowing locks was busy banging pots and pans, and Natasha was holding up a rectangular device towards them, presumably to record everything.

‘Guys!’ Steve boomed. Everyone turned around. ‘How’s the food not ready already? I was gone for over two hours!’

‘Bruce wanted to make ethnic foods, but Clint said the best cure to brainwashing is comfort food, and Thor probably just wanted to throw a couple of ingredients together and call it cooking,’ Natasha supplied.

‘I can’t believe four full-grown adults don’t know how to order take-out,’ Steve grumbled, pulling out the same rectangular device Natasha was holding out of his pocket.

‘Wait, Cap. You know how to order take-out?’ the dirty blond said, clearly in mockery.

‘I’ve been out of the ice for four years, Clint. I think I can handle this,’ Steve said.

Another hour later, the common room floor was crowded by Chinese takeout boxes. There was enough food to feed fifty people, Bucky estimated. He wasn’t sure how the six of them could manage to eat all of it.

‘Are you sure we don’t have too much?’ he asked as they settled down to eat.

‘Steve, Thor and Bruce burn more energy than most normal humans, and Clint’s a glutton,’ Natasha said, expertly operating chopsticks into holding a ball of rice.

‘Doesn’t count if I can keep the weight off,’ Clint countered, though his mouth was so full of noodles it was a miracle he could make any noise at all.

‘Wait, where’s Steve?’ Bucky asked, realising that the super-soldier was nowhere to be seen.

‘He eats with his boyfriend,’ Natasha answered.

‘What?’

‘You weren’t supposed to mention that, Nat,’ Bruce said, glancing warily at Bucky.

‘I know how the punk likes fellas as well as dames.’

‘That’s wrong,’ Clint says, now reaching for his tenth portion. ‘Everyone knows zombies can’t eat food.’

‘I do miss when Anthony ate with us,’ Thor said despairingly, staring forlornly at his plate.

Bucky felt sad. Steve had managed to find a fella to make him happy but then lost him. He felt bad for not being there for him even if he didn’t remember his time with Steve all that much.

‘Well, I hope he made him happy, at least,’ he said, picking up a piece of sesame seed chicken between chopsticks with his left hand, and he felt the familiar twinge of annoyance as the metal stopped completely for a split second. He really wished he could be rid of this limb, but there were no replacements, so he’d have to make do. And nobody noticed the oddity of his remark because Bruce had just Hulked out.

*

‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ Bucky asked Steve when they were alone in Bucky’s bedroom assembling various items.

Steve froze. ‘Ah,’ he said. ‘Buck, I - .’

‘“Am bisexual,”,’ Bucky finished for him. ‘I know that. I’ve always known.’

The tips of Steve’s ears reddened. ‘Well, yeah,’ he conceded.

‘What’s his name?’

‘Tony. He’s Howard’s son.’

‘Wait – Howard married and had a kid?’

‘Yeah. With a gal named Maria.’

‘Huh.’ Buck didn’t think Howard was the kind of man to settle down. ‘Is that why you keep going down to the basement?’

‘That’s where his lab is.’ The sadness in Steve’s face was apparent. He pulled out something from his pocket and unfurled it. It was a well-worn, creased and slightly faded picture. It was of Tony grinning maniacally at the camera, face half-hidden because Steve in pyjamas was trying to make a grab for the camera in the background. Bucky’s heart ached at the thought of Steve carrying that picture absolutely everywhere to keep his memory alive. ‘The others tell me it hasn’t been that long, but it feels so lonely without him.’

Fuck. Steve got a boyfriend and that boyfriend was Howard’s kid, and he was dead and Steve still hadn’t gotten over it yet. Bucky had no idea how to even begin fixing this. ‘There are plenty of other fish in the sea,’ he tried to comfort him.

Steve looked horrified. ‘I’d never betray him like that, Buck! How could you say that?’

Bucky may not have many memories left, but he did know, on a visceral level, how close he and Steve were before all of this happened. That part of him wanted Steve to be happy, but if he was refusing to open up, then there was nothing he could do. It wasn’t that Bucky wished he were still under HYDRA’s control, but it would be nice if he didn’t have to deal with this.

*

‘All right, Avengers, move out!’ Steve shouted. The others scrambled to fight for the best seat on what was apparently called the Quinjet. But Steve remained where he was, staring back into the building without even bothering to board. Bucky gave him ten seconds, but he still didn’t move. He decided he’d better go down there to see what was going through his mind.

He regretted it almost immediately, though, when Steve pulled out the photo from his belt pocket and kissed it. Pushing the sadness away, he put his right arm on Steve’s shoulder wordlessly. At once, the Captain America persona took over, erasing Steve Rogers away completely.

‘Come on, Buck,’ he said with determination. ‘Let’s take these robots down.’

Bucky thought of all those fairy tales where the hero vowed to take down the villains in the love interest’s honour. No. That wasn’t right. He was supposed to be gearing up to fight, not get emotional about lost love. He followed Steve into the Quinjet and promised himself that he’d eradicate all the evil in the world so that Steve’s love for Tony could burn alive like an eternal candle.

*

‘Sorry I’m late!’ a new voice announced. There was only one quarter of the original amount of robots left; the rest were scattered all over the ground, and some of them were still sparking. Bucky looked up to see a tin suit rocketing towards them. His first thought was that it was the robots’ leader, but then it reached right into a robot’s chest and pulled out wires. ‘The alarm didn’t go off in time.’

‘That’s because we turned it off,’ Natasha said sardonically as she snapped a robot’s neck between her thighs. ‘Can you even walk without the suit right now?’

Huh. So there was one more Avenger living with them. Bucky was puzzled on how they haven’t met yet, but that thought went out of his mind when a robot decided that aiming two sharp objects for his eyes was a good idea.

Soon enough, all the robots had been disposed of. The streets looked like some kind of futuristic dystopian film instead of actual New York. Bucky wiped his forehead with his forearm, glad that the mission went off without him losing control. They really didn’t need another metal-limbed being going berserk on them.

‘Good work, Avengers,’ Steve said, taking off his cowl. Aside from the mussed hair, he was still standing upright, not even out of breath. ‘Debrief in ten – mmph!’

Much to Bucky’s horror, the man in the metal suit rushed up to Steve and kissed him right on the mouth. Even with the serum Bucky wasn’t sure if Steve could resist being crushed metal. Steve struggled for a moment then went limp.

Bucky ran up to them and punched the helmet right on the cheek with his left hand. ‘Stay away from him,’ he growled. The blood boiling in his veins was an unfamiliar feeling, but it gave him the strength to defend Steve.

‘Excuse me?’ the masked voice, though modified by speakers, sounded as threatening as Bucky. ‘I think I have the right to - .’

‘You have no right forcing him to do something he doesn’t want!’ Bucky pulled out his knife from his thigh holster. The serum in his blood was pumping into his muscles, gearing them up for another fight.

‘Do you want a fight? Then I’ll give you one.’ The suit raised its arms, the palms glowing.

‘Bucky! Tony! Stop that at once!’ Steve shouted. ‘I don’t know what you guys are arguing about, but we’re not about to cause the city more destruction!’

‘He was the one who started it!’ the suit shouted.

‘You have some nerve – wait.’ Something just clicked in Bucky’s brain. ‘Did you call him Tony?’

‘Yes,’ Steve said uncertainly.

‘Tony? As in your boyfriend Tony?’

‘What else would I call him if not his name?’

‘But – he’s dead.’

‘Excuse me?’ Steve sounded like someone had just presented irrefutable evidence that the world was flat.

‘He – he’s dead.’ Bucky was trying to make sense of the situation but his brain kept running into dead ends. ‘He’s never around, and you said his lab’s in the basement, and you keep bringing food there...’

‘Well, how’s this for being dead?’ There was a click and the helmet’s faceplate lifted up to reveal a man who had a very strong resemblance to Howard, except he had more lines than Bucky knew Howard had last time he saw him.

‘You keep a photo of you two together in your pocket!’ Bucky spluttered.

‘Well, yeah,’ Steve said defensively. ‘That’s a perfectly normal thing to do.’

‘You kissed it like you were thinking ‘Soon I will join you, my love,”!’

Steve flushed a brilliant red at that. Clint cackled, but Bucky was paying no attention to anything else.

‘Is this true?’ Tony asked, a smirk starting to spread across his face.

‘Uh...’ Steve rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Yes.’

‘Wow. I’m flattered, Cap. You really are a man out of time, aren’t you?’

‘Well - .’

‘Not that I’m complaining.’ Tony grabbed Steve by the waist and kissed him deeply again.

But this time Steve pushed Tony away. ‘That’s no excuse for you to skip debrief, Tony,’ he said. ‘I will not tolerate such appalling tactics.’ That said, clearly he had no objection if his mussed hair and swollen lips were any indication.

‘Whatever.’ Tony fired up his repulsors and flew away.

‘This is a very interesting addition to my collection,’ Natasha said, tapping her device to make a ‘Stop recording’ button.

Steve blushed again and Bucky shook his head. If this was what being an Avenger was like, then he was going to have some very interesting times.

*

‘Buck, come with me!’ Steve insisted, pulling Bucky away from his meal by his lone arm (they’d taken off the metal one the previous day).

‘Hey punk, I haven’t even started eating yet!’ Bucky said indignantly, but Steve paid no attention. Apparently being given the superserum made him think he was entitled to boss Bucky around. Well, he’ll just have to see about that.

‘Where are we going?’ Bucky asked as they made a turn to a new corridor he hadn’t explored yet.

‘You’ll see when we get there.’ Steve was bouncing on the balls of his heels as they waited for the lift; Bucky didn’t think he’d been this excited since the day he confessed his feelings for Peggy to him.

‘First you prevent me from eating, now you’re hiding things from me. Being an Avenger clearly hasn’t done you well, Steve Rogers.’

‘You’re going to love this!’ Steve didn’t even appear to take in what he just said. Bucky shook his head.

The lift doors opened to reveal a massive room filled with all sorts of machinery. Bucky gasped. It was a wondrous chamber and his science geek squealed with delight at all the sharp angles and soft whirrs.

‘Is this – Tony’s workshop?’ he asked.

‘It is.’ Steve pulled Bucky around a contraption as big as their bodies to reveal Tony, who had his back to them.

‘Bucky’s here, babe,’ he said.

Tony turned around. ‘Ah, the man of the hour!’ he said, spreading his arms. Howard’s genes had clearly passed on to him. ‘Have a look at this.’ He stepped aside.

Bucky stared and stared at the object being held up on the stand. ‘Is that – for me?’ he managed.

‘Yep.’ Tony popped the P with his mouth.

‘I - .’

‘Have a look at it.’

Bucky inched forward. The metal arm seemed to glow with all the light being reflected towards it. The multiple plates were absent, making the whole thing look much sleeker. He touched it as though afraid it would scald him.

‘Don’t just stand there, Tony! Help him put it on!’ Steve chided.

Tony didn’t even hesitate. He lifted the metal arm out of the stand. Bucky sat down and let Tony fit his left stump with it. At once, his brain lit up with neurons, as if it was overjoyed to finally have a missing limb returned.

‘Test it out,’ Tony said.

Bucky extended the arm. It responded much more seamlessly than the old one. There were no delays. It was as if he had been reborn whole again.

‘Every contraption you want is in there, plus I added some more,’ Tony said as Bucky twirled the contraption. ‘It can change to your skin colour so it doesn’t look intimidating to other people, and I designed it so that it doesn’t go off at airport checkpoints - .’

Tony was interrupted by Bucky throwing him a bone-crushing hug. ‘Thank you,’ he mumbled.

‘A – little – help – Steve!’ Tony choked.

‘Bucky, that’s enough.’ Steve pulled them apart. He had tears in his eyes, glad to see that his best friend was finally free of HYDRA’s clutches, at least metaphorically. ‘Thank you, Tony,’ he said. ‘I can never repay you enough for this.’

‘You can start by giving me blow jobs every day for the rest of the year,’ Tony winked.

‘I didn’t need to hear that!’ Bucky exclaimed.

‘Well, all this emotional sappy stuff has made me hungry,’ Tony proclaimed, and he reached behind another piece of machinery to reveal takeout boxes. Bucky’s stomach sighed in relief at the sight of food.

‘All this time I thought you were bringing food down here to feel closer to his spirit,’ Bucky said to Steve as he opened a box. It consisted of a hamburger, fried chicken and French fries, which Clint had informed him was the staple diet of the modern American.

Steve’s ears reddened again. Bucky noticed that his blush was a special tinge of red whenever they were talking about Tony. Bucky found that adorable and he hoped he could find a woman who could make him feel the same way. ‘You were the one who thought he was dead!’ he said, spreading boxes around himself and opening them one by one, clearly intending to eat them all in quick succession.

‘As far as I’m concerned anyone who doesn’t show signs of being alive, including mingling with the very people he invited to live with him, are not human.’

‘Watch it,’ Tony said, fending himself from a beeping robot with a single arm. ‘Any more badmouthing from you and I’m taking back that arm.’

‘You do that, and you won’t be getting those blow jobs,’ Steve said casually.

‘Right. I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it.’ Bucky stood up and took his stash with him, rushing to the lift as fast as his legs could carry him with the burden. He marvelled again at how the arm responded to every single one of his thoughts. But he probably should train with it, to make absolutely sure he was familiar with it inside and out. His first thought was that he should find Clint as a sparring partner. He was going to make sure he inflicted some damage to him with it, because it was totally his fault Bucky believed Tony was dead in the first place.


End file.
